Luke 13:22-30 Pentecost 14
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
August 24, 2025
Back in June, a few of us were spending some time visiting in a hospital room and there was one of these. A Rubik’s Cube. They’ve been around for a long time, so I’m guessing a lot of you have messed around with one at some point. Raise your hand if you have ever solved it. If you have, you are apparently among the 5.8% of people who can do it—a pretty small percentage! But in case you’re feeling pretty good about yourself, you probably have a long way to go to get close the record of 4.22 seconds by some guy named Max! I used to be able to do it pretty quickly when it first came out—but that day in the hospital room, I was struggling! I got a couple sides, that was it. On the next visit, I saw that it was perfect—each side had only one color! But I’m pretty sure someone “solved” it by taking the stickers off and putting them back on in the right places! A question from someone in a crowd prompted Jesus to talk about how few people could do something far more important. And what he says cuts pretty deeply. It can be upsetting because it is not the way we naturally think about things and certainly not the message preached by our culture. But if you’ll listen and trust him, you’ll find healing in his words— words that you can share with those who don’t know or understand what Jesus says. THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO GET THROUGH THE NARROW DOOR OF HEAVEN Strive to Enter Through the Narrow Door Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to complete his work of salvation. He was teaching in all the little towns and villages like he always did. In one of those towns, someone asked him a question: “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” Who was this someone? A man? A woman? What did they think? Did they understand Jesus’ answer? Did they believe it? We don’t know the answers to those questions. But, that “someone’s” question was one debated by Jewish rabbi’s, some of whom felt that all Israelites would be saved. If the person had heard that, perhaps they just wanted to get Jesus’ take on it—he was a rabbi (teacher) after all. Many people have a genuine curiosity about who and how many people will be in heaven. But questions about heaven often have more to do with the individual doing the asking. If we ask, we may be concerned with what our chances of being in heaven are! What do I need to know?! What am I supposed to believe?! What do I have to do? It’s kind of funny, Jesus never exactly answers this person’s question! He never says how many will be in heaven. Instead, he shifts to the side of that question and urges each person to be concerned about their own souls and see to it that they make it in. “Strive to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. Jesus himself is the way through the narrow door of heaven. This goes against both natural and popular beliefs. Things like this: